The Battle Cry of Peace: the Leadership of the Disciples of Christ Movement During the American Civil War, 1861-1865

THE BATTLE CRY OF PEACE: THE LEADERSHIP OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST MOVEMENT DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865 by DARIN A.TUCK B. A., Washburn University, 2007 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS Department of History College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2010 Approved by: Major Professor Robert D. Linder Copyright DARIN A. TUCK 2010 Abstract As the United States descended into war in 1861, the religious leaders of the nation were among the foremost advocates and recruiters for both the Confederate and Union forces. They exercised enormous influence over the laity, and used their sermons and periodicals to justify, promote, and condone the brutal fratricide. Although many historians have focused on the promoters of war, they have almost completely ignored the Disciples of Christ, a loosely organized religious movement based on anti-sectarianism and primitive Christianity, who used their pulpits and periodicals as a platform for peace. This study attempts to merge the remarkable story of the Disciples peace message into a narrative of the Civil War. Their plea for nonviolence was not an isolated event, but a component of a committed, biblically-based response to the outbreak of war from many of the most prominent leaders of the movement. Immersed in the patriotic calls for war, their stance was extremely unpopular and even viewed as traitorous in their communities and congregations. This study adds to the current Disciples historiography, which states that the issue of slavery and the Civil War divided the movement North and South, by arguing that the peace message professed by its major leaders divided the movement also within the sections. In fact, by the outbreak of war, the visceral debates that occurred among the Disciples leadership did not center on the issue of slavery, constitutionality of secession, or even which belligerent was in the right. The chief point of contention was whether a Christian, based on New Testament precepts, could participate in war. The nonviolent leaders thought that their peace message derived from the New Testament would be the one thing that would preserve unity in the brethren. In reality, it became the primary source of division. Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 - The Ordeal of Unity: The Formation and Fracturing of the Disciples of Christ Movement, 1800-1860 ........................................................................................................... 12 The Early Restoration Movement ......................................................................................... 13 Nonviolence .......................................................................................................................... 20 Slavery .................................................................................................................................. 24 The 1850s .............................................................................................................................. 26 Descent into War ................................................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 2 - Battle Cry of Peace: The Divisive Nonviolent Message, 1861 ............................ 43 The Secession Winter, 1860-1861 ........................................................................................ 44 The Outbreak of War ............................................................................................................ 50 Mounting Divisions .............................................................................................................. 63 CHAPTER 3 - The March of Division and Beyond: The Decline of the Peace Message, 1862- 1865 ....................................................................................................................................... 74 Fighting in the War ............................................................................................................... 76 The Peace Message in 1862 .................................................................................................. 85 The Declining Peace Movement in 1863 .............................................................................. 92 To the End of War ................................................................................................................. 99 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 102 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 112 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study was made possible through the generous assistance of the Institute of Military History and Twentieth Century Studies, the Graduate Student Council, and the Department of History at Kansas State University. The investigation also benefitted from the hardworking people at the Disciples of Christ Historical Society in Nashville, Tennessee, who put up with me during the three weeks I spent in their archives. The project was overseen by three historians who offered helpful guidance throughout the process: Robert D. Linder, Lou Williams, and Charles Sanders. Furthermore, this project could not have been accomplished without the support and aid of friends and colleagues including Fideleon Damian, Amy Cantone, Ethan Anderson, Evan Williams, Zach Stiffler, Joe Bailey, Dustin Becker, Jeff Nelson, and Josh Hypse. The greatest thanks go to Tamara L. Mitchell, who not only learned more about the Disciples of Christ than she probably ever wanted to, but also edited multiple drafts and offered valuable comments and suggestions throughout the entire process. v INTRODUCTION As the storm clouds gathered over the United States on the eve of the Civil War, fear and uncertainty gripped the American public. Many citizens from both the North and the South had come to believe that Americans were a “chosen people,” one destined to institute the Kingdom of God on earth. As the southern states began to secede, visions of that destiny for many Christians appeared to be in jeopardy.1 Although the majority of Americans did not belong to any particular denomination during the antebellum period, most lived in a profoundly religious environment.2 The combination of improved printing technology and an overall increase in the national literacy that developed during the Second Great Awakening aided in the enlistment of thousands into the Christian ranks and brought the Bible into more American homes than ever before. When the call for volunteers came, tens of thousands of men left their homes and donned the uniform of war, most with the belief that God was on their side. Reflecting on the nearly four years of warfare in his Second Inaugural Address, President Abraham Lincoln noted the unfortunate irony of the situation: “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God” but the “prayers of both could not be answered.”3 1 Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1972), 686. 2 For an introduction into American religion in the antebellum period, see Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 164-202, 285-327; Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People, 403-648; Jon Butler, Grant Wacker and Randall Balmer, Religion in American Life: A Short History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 197-246. 3 Abraham Lincoln, “Second Inaugural Address,” in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 8, edited by Roy C. Basler (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1923), 333. For a discussion on how the North and South used religion to justify the war effort, see 1 Amid the uncertainty that secession engendered, many Americans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line looked to their religious leaders for guidance. As the shells fell on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and an all-out war became increasingly likely, most of these religious leaders were among the chief proponents of the war. Historian Mark Noll wrote that the pulpits of the day were “transformed into instruments of political theology.”4 The leaders inspired young men from around the country to take up arms, justified the killing of their former countrymen, and argued that their cause was necessary in the eyes of God. Historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom concluded that the Civil War “became a kind of double holy war” where the “pulpits resounded with a vehemence and absence of restraint never equaled in American history.”5 Encouraged by the patriotic message of their religious leaders and assured in their providential undertaking, many soldiers were heavily motivated by religion and would volunteer, fight, and die in the brutal war that followed.6 As the war fervor enveloped the American churches, leaders of a relatively new religious movement professed a profoundly different message than the majority of their Protestant counterparts. Many leaders of the Disciples of Christ, a loosely organized religious group based on anti-sectarianism and primitive Christianity, used their pulpits and periodicals as a platform Robert J. Miller,

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